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This family-run Sri Lankan in a Surry Hills terrace is as exciting as any concept restaurant around

Don’t miss the delicate hoppers, golden brisket rolls, killer hot butter soft-shell crab and push-the-boat-out lobster at this new spot in Sydney’s east.

Terry Durack
Terry Durack

Stools line the counter, which runs most of the length of the skinny Surry Hills terrace.
1 / 9Stools line the counter, which runs most of the length of the skinny Surry Hills terrace.Edwina Pickles
Smoked brisket pan rolls.
2 / 9Smoked brisket pan rolls.Edwina Pickles
The go-to dish: Hot butter soft-shell crab.
3 / 9The go-to dish: Hot butter soft-shell crab. Edwina Pickles
Short rib curry.
4 / 9Short rib curry.Edwina Pickles
Kurumba’s signature lobster kottu.
5 / 9Kurumba’s signature lobster kottu.Edwina Pickles
Hoppers, served plain or with an egg, are a must.
6 / 9Hoppers, served plain or with an egg, are a must.Edwina Pickles
The egg hopper comes with sambols for dunking and dipping.
7 / 9The egg hopper comes with sambols for dunking and dipping.Edwina Pickles
Faluda soft-serve.
8 / 9Faluda soft-serve.Edwina Pickles
Son Jason de Hoedt (left), owners Augustus and Dilki de Hoedt, daughter-in-law Saaya de Hoedt and son Travin de Hoedt.
9 / 9Son Jason de Hoedt (left), owners Augustus and Dilki de Hoedt, daughter-in-law Saaya de Hoedt and son Travin de Hoedt.Yusuke Oba

14.5/20

Sri Lankan$$

There are some exciting restaurant concepts around town right now, but sometimes it’s more exciting to discover a restaurant that isn’t a concept at all. Something that just happens through love of family and pride in your own culture.

Executive chef and co-owner Augustus De Hoedt closed his popular Sri Lankan cafe The Fold in Dulwich Hill in July in order to open Kurumba in Surry Hills in August. Joining him are his pastry chef sons Travin and Jason, pastry chef daughter-in-law Saaya Takahashi, and wife Dilki acting as front of house.

It’s a typically skinny Surry Hills terrace, with stools lining a long counter and the window downstairs, and table dining (yet to open) upstairs. The first thing you see is the hopper bar, with a big jug of the fermented rice flour and coconut milk batter on standby, ready to form into light, delicate bowl-shaped crepes.

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Crumbed and fried rolled crepes are stuffed with shredded brisket.
Crumbed and fried rolled crepes are stuffed with shredded brisket.Edwina Pickles

To the rear is a sizeable kitchen, where the chefs work cleanly, methodically and collaboratively. (Most families would squabble, surely. “We have our moments,” laughs Jason, when I ask). The fit-out is smart and attractive but not so smart that it looks out of reach for ordinary mortals.

Pan rolls ($12) are a good move; fat, evenly crumbed and fried rolled crepes stuffed with shredded, smoked and slow-cooked brisket, with a refreshingly tart pineapple ketchup for dipping.

Barman/sommelier Ryan Gandiaga is busy shaking ruby-pink Silk Road cocktails (vodka, elderflower, berries, rose), as the flavours of hot butter soft-shell crab ($28) sneak up on me. What looks like a stir-fry is a richly coated, fruitily sauced toss of charred spring onions and juicy quartered crab that you can crunch right through. A small bowl of black garlic aioli to the side is so not required.

Kimbula kithul, the treacly sap of the palm flower, is a recurring grace note, infused into a malty Kubb beer ($12), from Bread & Brewery in Morisset on the Central Coast, and bringing its dark sweetness to sauces and desserts.

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Sri Lankan cooking covers so much ground that you can keep things simple here, with just a light, beautifully separated savoury rice ($8) strewn with raisins, cashews and fried onions, and a small bowl of green mango curry in a rich coating sauce ($18) garnished with whorls of dried bitter gourd.

The signature lobster kottu comes with a jug of bisque-like curry sauce on the side.
The signature lobster kottu comes with a jug of bisque-like curry sauce on the side.Edwina Pickles

Or you can push the boat out with the signature lobster kottu ($65), in which a comforting mix of chopped roti, egg, curry leaves, coriander and lobster meat is squished back into half a WA lobster shell, with a bisque-like curry sauce for pouring.

Hoppers are a must (plain $5, egg $6), along with a jammy onion seeni sambol ($3). Faced with a strong desire to rip, tear and dunk my slightly soft hoppers, I ask if there’s a right way to eat, Sri Lankan style. “There’s no wrong way,” says Gandiaga.

Soft, giving beef short ribs fly a flag for the warmth and depth of Sri Lankan spices, from coriander and cumin to dried lime, curry leaves, pandan, lemongrass and chilli.

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Sauces are universally masterful; mostly thick, dark reductions of onions, ginger and garlic, shot with tomato, tamarind and often a touch of coconut milk, with the localised garnish of saltbush in lieu of curry leaves (nice touch).

Wines by the glass are sympathetically chosen, especially a fragrant, biscuity Credaro Kinship chardonnay ($15) from WA’s Margaret River.

The rose-scented faluda soft-serve is crowned with a maraschino cherry.
The rose-scented faluda soft-serve is crowned with a maraschino cherry.Edwina Pickles

With more pastry chefs per square metre than most restaurants, desserts are surprisingly simple (a selection of cakes will soon be added). A lactic pond of loose buffalo curd ($12) is ringed with dark, sticky treacle; and a soft-serve machine delivers a pretty pink rose syrup-infused faluda ($19) adorned with crystallised pistachios. Crowned with a maraschino cherry, it’s fine-textured and sherbety.

Kurumba may look deceptively simple and bright, but this is complex cooking full of dark, roasted flavours and aromas, from a family of chefs cooking the food they love. What a concept.

The low-down

Vibe: Cultish family-run Sri Lankan hits the big time

Go-to dish: Hot butter soft-shell crab with black garlic aioli, $28

Drinks: Beer, a bar of cocktails and left-field French/Italian/Australian wines

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Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/kurumba-brings-complex-flavours-and-masterful-sri-lankan-sauces-to-surry-hills-20230912-p5e3xu.html